Thursday, March 12, 2015

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

My friend Barbara Carroll, the jazz pianist who was one of last night's honorees. Barbara turned 90 last month and she's still playing her gig at Birdland accompanied by bassist Jay Leonhart every Saturday night at six for a one-hour set. Amazing, but that's Barbara.

"Yesterday was Wednesday, you remember; and it was Michael’s. I wasn’t there. Authors and actors and artists and such… to borrow from from Dorothy Parker. I was home at my desk with another deadline. But from a little birdie, I gotta list of the Cast of Characters. Some of them anyway. Ahh, if you cudda been a fly on the wall, you’d have heard of all kinds of stories, tales, ideas, and even the jokes; some always making with the jokes. Always needed, always useful in this great big town.The list: Beverly Camhe, Harold Ford, Abigail Lash, Marilyn Crawford, Moira Forbes, Freddie Gershon with Ben Scheuer, Paul Healy, Lisa Linden with Eldin Villafane, Ashley McDermott, Michael Peterson, Peter Price, Brett Schenck, Henry Schleiff with Jerry Springer, Spencer Sharp, Noble Smith, Michael Appel, Maury Rogoff with Mickey Ateyeh, Scott Singer with Susan Graimes, John Hart, Joan Gelman with Dexter Daisy, Wayne Kabak, Pamela Keogh, Bonnie Timmerman, Judy Twersky with Joseph Abboud and Diane Clehane, Natasha Vardi, Sabina Belkin, Neil Lasher, Sara Beth Shrager, and Juliana Terian. My friend Barbara Carroll, the jazz pianist who was one of last night's honorees. Barbara turned 90 last month and she's still playing her gig at Birdland accompanied by bassist Jay Leonhart every Saturday night at six for a one-hour set. Amazing, but that's Barbara.
Last night I went over to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the twin towers overlooking Columbus Circle, Central Park and the Upper East Side of New York. The occasion was a benefit titled 'Eight Over Eighty; Celebrating Remarkable Lives.' The 'eight' were: Barbara Carroll, Joel Grey, Arlene Alda, Charles M. Diker, Milton Glaser, Irwin Hochberg, Pat Jacobs and Rita and Fred Richman." (NYSD)